Special investigation: Hunting trafficking’s Kurdish big boss
The mastermind of an international people smuggling network has gone into hiding after a crackdown on the trade in Iraqi Kurdistan, The National can reveal.
The operation is centred on a web of money exchanges in the lakeside town of Ranya that are used to arrange illegal journeys from Iraq to the far side of Europe. A senior UK politician has reacted to our findings, calling for greater focus on tackling the financial networks that allow the criminals to thrive.
A UK-led drive stamp out the trade in migrants, which has led to hundreds dying while trying to cross the English Channel to Britain in small boats, has resulted in several arrests. It has spooked one of the main culprits into going to ground, and possibly over the border to nearby Iran.
Former cabinet minister Karen Bradley, now the chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, said the UK had to work beyond its borders to tackle people smuggling through the money laundering that underpins the trade. An agreement signed between the British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and the Iraqi government at the end of last year has targeted those organising the journeys, but there is evidence the fixers handling the thousands of dollars paid for each trip are still operating.
“People smuggling gangs will persist as long as they continue to make handsome profits from this lethal trade,” the Conservative MP told The National. “These are complex, ever-evolving networks but their life blood is money and getting to this will be key. Working with partners around the globe will help the UK understand the context that people smuggling flourishes in and develop its strategy accordingly.
“They cannot just wait until people reach the [English] Channel, they must address what is happening in places like France and Kurdistan as well.”
A move against money launderers tied to the people smuggling trade would target figures such as Mohammed Sangasari. His business card was obtained by The National during the trial of two Kurdish people smugglers convicted of running a branch of the trafficking network in Caerphilly, Wales. Mr Sangasari's business sits in the dollar market in Ranya, facing the town's busy mosque. It is easy to identify, with his name above the door, and found with the details on the card. He appeared taken aback and immediately closed down the conversation when we informed him he had been named as a smuggler in a UK court case. “We don’t do this work nor have we ever done it,” he said.
- The head of the organisation is a man in his 40s or 50s named Bakhtiar, which translates as lucky or fortunate
- He controls the often-violent small boats business in northern France
- He was identified as ‘the boss’ through court documents in France and by locals where he lives in Ranya, which is around 130km from Sulaymaniyah
- A teenage migrant desperate to reach Britain with her family described him as a “famous smuggler” with a reputation for getting the job done
- A pair of smugglers whose car wash in Caerphilly in the UK acted as cover for their business used another money exchange in the town to handle the financing of their operation
- Mohammed Sangasari named in a UK court and tracked to his shop near the town’s dollar market and mosque
A small square in Ranya is a haven for the smuggling gangs, where people can arrange to be transported to the UK at a cost of thousands of dollars.
The kingpin’s enterprise centres around a nearby basement money exchange called Qandil, where workers challenged by The National said he had not been seen for weeks. Another person, who described himself as a smuggler, said Bakhtiar had been involved in a shooting and fled to Iran.
His disappearance came shortly after the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) took part for the first time in an operation by Kurdish security forces to detain three alleged people smugglers, which followed the agreement between the UK Home Secretary and the Iraqi government.
The men were described as “foot soldiers” by one man who admitted previously arranging financial transactions and visas for people in the smuggling business. “Families of those arrested are frightened to speak because those who are caught are not usually the smugglers but the intermediaries,” he said.
Matt Sutton, the NCA’s head of threat for Organised Immigration Crime, told The National that it currently has “70 investigations ongoing into the top tier of criminality” in the people-smuggling business. “A number of those feature individuals originally from or currently in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” he said.
Mr Sutton said the recent arrests show the NCA has developed a “positive working relationship with law enforcement authorities” in the region.
“We continue to work with them on a range of shared threats, including against people-smuggling crime groups who are risking the lives of those they transport.
“These gangs do not care about the safety of those they move, and more than 70 people died last year trying to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel in dangerous and underpowered small boats provided by criminal networks. We remain determined to target [the gangs] wherever they operate, and our partnership with the KRI is crucial to that.”
Tackling the gangs has been a focus for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, in contrast to the previous government, which wanted to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda.
Last year alone, some 35,000 migrants attempted the crossing, with 77 dying at sea. More than 4,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in the first weeks of 2025.
Adverts showing migrants' experiences coming to the UK, such as forced labour and the dangers of making the crossing, have been launched in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as part of government efforts to tackle people smugglers.
However, Tony Smith, the former director of the UK’s Border Force and now a border security consultant, is sceptical of the ability of law enforcement on its own to tackle people smugglers.
He said “international financial frameworks” of people smuggling are “so sophisticated, and often concealed in legitimate companies and businesses, to the extent that it’s very hard for law enforcement agencies to penetrate them”.
“As for the mid-level gangs, many of them are themselves irregular migrants in the EU, and the profits are so high that there will always be others waiting to step into the shoes of those who are arrested,” Mr Smith, the managing director of Fortinus Global, told The National.
While he applauded the breakthrough agreement to give UK police access to the fight on the ground against people smuggling in Iraq, Mr Smith said the operations needed to expand. “So whilst I am sure the NCA will welcome any new resource or powers that may come their way, I don’t think the UK criminal justice system is in itself going to stop human smuggling, even if the powers are extra territorial,” he said.
Mr Smith supported Ms Bradley's view that the only real way to “smash the gangs” is to break their business model, meaning that migrants taking these journeys should not achieve their ambition of long-term residence in the UK.
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdish region, Qubad Talabani, acknowledges there is a “problem of illegal migration” in the remote Raparin area, where Ranya sits, but insists “we do not see this as a widespread trend”. Instead he stressed there was a need for new laws and a focus on economic alternative to migration.
The lack of job opportunities and an unstable economic situation across the self-governed Kurdish region have left young people without hope and aspirations for a future in their hometowns. The blue Iraqi passport they carry has very few visa-free options, meaning there are opportunities for gangs to fill the void.
“We recognise that there is a real desire among some citizens to seek opportunities abroad through illegal channels,” he said, adding “this desire stems from complex, multifaceted challenges, including limited job opportunities and economic hardships”.
“Targeting smugglers alone will not eliminate the root causes of illegal migration,” he told The National. “While we continue to work with security forces to disrupt smuggling networks, we are equally focused on addressing the factors that push people towards such dangerous choices. Our measures include a comprehensive three-year plan to tackle the root causes through economic development, job creation, educational initiatives, and community empowerment.”